- India and Maldives has signed a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty(MLAT) in criminal matters.
- The treaty aims to enhance the effectiveness of both the countries in investigation and prosecution of crime,through cooperation and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
- A mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) is an agreement between two or more countries for the purpose of gathering and exchanging information in an effort to enforce public or criminal laws.
- MLATs can be bilateral (country to country), multilateral, regional (any regional grouping example ASEAN) and country to regional (India with all the countries of European Union).
- This assistance may take the form of (a)examining and identifying people (b)places and things (c)custodial transfers and (d)providing assistance with the immobilisation of the instruments of criminal activity.India has already signed Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with 39 countries.
